Machievelli believed, "The end justifies
the means." What does the Torah offer as a counter-argument?

Dear Bernard Berkeley,

In life, nothing is as simple as a mere five word
statement. Let us analyze the statement. Supposing you could
save the life of an innocent child ("the end") and you
could do it by lying ("the means") about his whereabouts
to the murderer. In such a case Judaism would definitely say
that the end justifies the means. However, supposing I could
convince someone of the truth of the Torah ("the end")
by lying ("the means") about what Torah is, then the
Torah would say that it is not justified. Because here
the means are a direct contradiction to the end, which is truth.
We believe that one should examine each case separately, and
indeed Judaism has legal guidelines to teach us how to act in
cases of end versus means.